UAS Magazine Has Launched

The current state of the UAS industry is easy to describe: exciting. Our team at UAS Magazine saw that earlier this year at the UAS Action Summit in Grand Forks, N.D. Political representatives, researchers and major UAV manufacturers were there to update the attendees about their respective thoughts and recent success stories in the industry. As one of the six test sites selected by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, it is easy to understand why the speakers—many of whom were working within the region—were excited. The industry is a proven entity that is on the verge of a boom cycle pertaining to everything from UAV use to UAS acceptance and advancement. As Michael Tuscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International said in a powerful speech to open the Summit, “This is a revolutionary technology on an evolutionary path.”

The speakers at the summit had that intense tone to their speeches and the easy-to-detect sense of genuine excitement during their presentations and commentary that we’ve all experienced before. It’s that same tone we use to tell someone we’ve just witnessed a star zipping through the sky or that we know the answer to a Jeopardy question that the contestants on the show just can’t seem to find. It’s with that same level of excitement that our team is officially announcing our new place in the world of UAS.

As a print and online publication (the online version of our magazine can be viewed at our website) focused on all things UAS and UAV, we have some incredible stories, sentiments, trends, happenings and down-right cool things to write about. We have a great backlog of stories on our site now, with many more feature length pieces set for our inaugural issue due out in October. If you have a story idea for me or anyone else on our editorial staff, let us know. Don’t be surprised if it seems as if we’ve just seen a star zipping through the sky—we are excited to write about UAS.

As a preview to a policy piece set for the first issue, I couldn’t wait to share some great sentiment from Curtis Zoeller, UAS program manager at Northland Community & Technical College—a great school doing some incredible UAS work at the heart of the North Dakota test site region. As he was speaking at the Summit from earlier this year about his work to develop the next generation of UAS operator he said this:

“As we move forward, it won’t be a matter of whether or not the your physical UAV will work, but whether or not the operator will understand the regulations that apply to each UAS or each region in which they will be flown.”

For the full story on Zoeller’s commentary, stay tuned until October. And, for more updates on the industry, check back every week for fresh blogs, news pieces and tweets.